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Price Tag
"Price Tag" is a song by English singer-songwriter Jessie J, featuring American rapper B.o.B. It was released on 31 January 2011 in the United Kingdom as the second single from Jessie J's debut studio album, Who You Are. "Price Tag" was written by Jessie J, Dr. Luke, Claude Kelly and B.o.B, and it was produced by Dr. Luke. It serves as the album's lead single in the United States. An official remix features British rapper Devlin. The song debuted at number one in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand becoming Jessie J's first number-one single in all three countries. In the US, "Price Tag" peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. Additionally, the song charted at number one in ten countries, becoming Jessie J's biggest hit to date. Jessie J has performed the song at a number of live performances, with other singers filling in for B.o.B or his verse being completely cut-out. "Price Tag" has received generally positive reviews from critics. The video features an over-sized teddy bear, a money tree, and Jessie J as a ballerina in a large jewellery box. The single was the fourth best selling single in the United Kingdom and, as of February 2012, had sold two million copies. The song was covered by The Wombats on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge on 31 May 2011. In December 2011, Jessie J recorded a Christmas-themed version of the song, with an interpolation of "Jingle Bells", featuring vocals from British singer-songwriter Jan. Composition and critical reception "Price Tag" is an up-tempo "feel good" track, inflected with reggae bounce and a sing-along chorus with strong vocals from Jessie J, slinky guitars, and a vintage backbeat. Lyrically, the song is about Jessie J trying to make the world dance by forgetting about how much money we have. The song has received generally positive reviews from music critics. Popjustice gave the song a positive review, saying it was a "ridiculously addictive introduction to an effortlessly great, new(ish) talent. The Guardian's Caspar Smith referred to both the song and J's previous single "Do It Like A Dude" as "planet-saving R&B-based hits-in-waiting." AOL Radio's James Wells praised the song, saying that it "shows off the tirelessly upbeat, Motown-tinged singing and songwriting for which Jessie J has become known." He went on to contrast the song from other tracks from J's upcoming debut album Who You Are, calling it less aggressive and more "about the positive vibes." Nick Levine of Digital Spy compared the song to Miley Cyruss "Party in the U.S.A." (2009), which was co-written by Jessie J. He said, "Truth be told, 'Price Tag' does come off a little bit corny, but thanks in no small part to Jessie's spunky likability" and described it as a "sun-dappled, hip-hop-inflected midtempo head-nodder". Chart performance The song debuted at number twelve in Ireland on 4 February 2011. On 6 February 2011 the song debuted at number one in the United Kingdom, with first week sales of 84,000 copies. It became Jessie J's first number-one single. The song's charting also gave B.o.B his third UK number-one single. "Price Tag" has become the first single to top the UK Singles Chart after being released to radio and retail on the same day, following a new "On Air, On Sale" initiative by Universal Music. On its second week on the chart the song retained its number-one position by a margin of less than 5%, selling over 90,000 copies, preventing Lady Gaga's new single "Born This Way" and Chipmunk's "Champion" from debuting at number one. As of January 2012, the song had sold 993,894 copies in the UK. In the United States, the song debuted at number eighty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week of 16 March 2011 and has reached number 23. It went straight to number one in New Zealand and it debuted at number 1 Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and peaked at number 1 on Hot Dance Club Play. It also received Radio Disney airplay, peaking at number 2 on the Top 30 Countdown for 2 weeks, behind "On My Mind" by Cody Simpson. Music video The music video was directed by Emil Nava and was premiered on 30 January 2011. The video begins closing up on a giant teddy bear that is missing an eye and an arm, accompanied by a musical box-rendering of Johann Strauss II's The Blue Danube, before zooming out to show a child version of Jessie J sitting next to it, who then gets up and walks around the bear, turning her into her full-sized self. Jessie J is then shown standing and holding out her hands, and as the lyrics suggest, a coconut man and a moonhead appear on her outstretched hands (this is a reference to the two individuals who co-wrote the song with her: Dr. Luke is coconut man and Kelly is moonhead). The video then goes back to Jessie J in the lap of the large teddy bear and shows various scenes of Jessie J holding up items that relate to the lyrics, including a huge price tag and pointing to left and the right. As the chorus begins, Jessie J is shown dancing under a money tree with dollar bills covering its branches. A scene of Jessie J is then shown of her as an over-sized ballerina in a jewelry box. As Jessie J says the words "video hoes", a scene of her wearing the same outfit as in her "Do It Like a Dude" video and dancing holding her crotch, suggesting that she does not approve of video hoes. Jessie J is next shown riding around on a small tricycle. As the song progresses into the second chorus, Jessie J and two background dancers are shown as marionettes, with Jessie J wearing a Pinocchio hat, dancing to the song. The video then moves to B.o.B as his verse begins, showing him dancing in front of a beat up car, that starts jumping and moving to the beat. He is then shown standing in the middle of four large, toy green army men. As his verse ends, Jessie J is shown squeezed into a doll house and holding a glass doll that is missing part of its head. As the video goes into its final chorus, scenes of Jessie J are shown her dancing with B.o.B, laying on the floor missing a leg, sitting in an over-sized chair, dressed up as a doll in a blue and white dress, and dancing with her younger self. The video ends with Jessie J closing the door to her doll house; with her still inside it, the camera carries on zooming out. Illuminati-allegiance rumors According to Q magazine, when the video was first aired, "Internet mentalists deemed that her wiggly finger pose - thumb-and-forefinger circled around her eye - signaled allegiance to The Illuminati". Jessie J commented: "I don't even know what the hell it is! People have written seven-page essays on how I worship the Devil!... You know what? I think the world has become obsessed with hating things. But people who wanna spread bad energy, I ain't got time for them to be in my psyche." She dismissed the allegations for a second and third time on her personal Twitter account and private Youtube channel, claiming in the latter that she knew very little about the secret society and used the a-ok gesture because it, "looked good on camera." However, further claims were made by conspiracy theorists regarding the video. The opening scene, depicting a one-eyed teddy bear with a severed arm, was claimed to represent the types of torture methods used during Project MKULTRA to create mind control slaves. Jessie J appearing as a ballerina, and later as a marionette, allegedly reinforces this claim. Another scene shows J holding the fractured head of a porcelain doll. The left eye on the doll is missing. J looks through the skull's broken cracks, her eye replacing the missing one. One critic said: "This scene is shown for less than a second. It is nevertheless extremely meaningful. It is a visual representation of the fractured psyche of a trauma victim. In mind control symbolism, dolls represent the alter persona created and programmed by the slave’s handler. In the video, the doll head has one eye missing, alluding to Illuminati mind control. Jessie’s eye is where the missing eye should be, effectively portraying the merger of the victim with its alter persona." Live performances Jessie J performed an acoustic version of the song on the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland. "Price Tag" was also performed at the club Scala in London on 18 January 2011, with UK rapper Devlin performing B.o.B's verse. The song was performed in the US for the first time in a New York club. She performed the song, along with a track titled "Nobody's Perfect" from her debut album, in a studio session at Maida Vale studios for MistaJam. Jessie J also performed Price Tag on The Graham Norton Show on 25 February and has also performed it on Lets Dance for Comic Relief. Jessie also performed the song (along with "Mamma Knows Best") alongside B.o.B on Saturday Night Live on 12 March 2011, and on the French X Factor during the seventh week, making it her first performance on American television. In 2011, she performed the song in the Times Square subway station. Also, Jessie presented the song in the 2011 MTV VMAs and 2011 MTV EMAs. Track listing * *;CD single / Digital download #"Price Tag" (featuring B.o.B) – 3:41 #"Price Tag" (featuring [(Shux Remix) – 3:27 #"Price Tag" (Benny Page Remix) – 4:29 #"Price Tag" (Doman & Gooding Remix) – 4:58 #"Price Tag" (acoustic version) – 3:19 * *;German CD single #"Price Tag" (featuring B.o.B) – 3:41 #"Price Tag" (acoustic version) – 3:19 * *;Digital download single #"Price Tag" (w/o Rap Edit) – 3:09 * *;Digital download (Shux Remix) #"Price Tag" (Shux Remix featuring Devlin) - 3:27 * *;Digital download (Rizzle Kicks vs. Rural Remix) #"Price Tag" (Rizzle Kicks vs. Rural Remix) [featuring B.o.B - 3:15 Credits and personnel *Jessie J – songwriter and vocals *Dr. Luke – songwriter, producer, drums, keyboards and programming *Claude Kelly – songwriter *B.o.B – songwriter and additional vocals *Butch Coleman – bass guitar *Chris "TEK" O'Ryan – engineer and recording *Emily Wright – engineer and recording *Sam Holland – engineer and recording *Tatiana Gottwald – assistant engineer *Serban Ghenea – mixing *John Hanes – mixing *Tim Roberts – assistant mix engineer *Tom Coyne – mastering Credits adapted from Who You Are album liner notes.